Device for operating headlights.



No. 893,139. V PATBNTED JULY 14, 1908.

" W. H. BROWN.

DEVICE FOR OPERATING HBADLIGHTS APlLIOATI ON FILED DEO.14,1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1'.

W.,H. BROWN.

, uDEVIGB' FOR-OPERATING HEADLIGHTS.

- APPLIOATION FILED DEO.14.1907.

-PAT ENTED JULY 14, 1908.

WILLIAM H. BROWN, OF NEWARK, OHIO.

DEVICE FOR OPERATING HIEADLIGHTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

- Patented July 14, 1908.

Application filed December 14, 1907. Serial No. 406,479.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM H. BROWN, citizen of the United States,residing at Newark, in the county of Licking and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for OperatingHeadlights, of which the following is a specificati on.

This invention relates to improvements in adjustable head lights forstreet'railway cars and analogous conveyances, and means for o cratingthe same, of that ty e or class in w ich the head light is arranged tobe shifted to one side or the other as the car is rounding a curve, soas to always be maintained pro erly to shed its light directly on thetram z, and the present invention has for its primary object a simple,durable and efficient construction of head light operating mechanismwhich is adaptable to cars of varying lengths as to the distance betweenthe front end of the car body and the truck to which the operatingmechanism is connected, the apparatus being so arranged as to compensatefor these varying distances between the truck and end of the car body,not only for the purpose of adapting the device to installations ondifferent cars, but also providing means whereby the shifting movementof the head light may be varied so as to be turned more or less quicklyto a greater or less degree, according to the said distance betweenthefront end of the car body and the truck. And a further object of theinvention is an ap aratus of this character, the arts of whlcli are soarranged as to absorb al shocks and thereby protect the head light andoperating mechanism from injury.

With these and other objects in view as will more fully appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention consists in certain constructions,arran ements and combinations of the parts that shall hereinafter fullydescribe and then point out the novel features in the appended claims.

For a full understanding of the invention,'

reference is to be had to the following description and accompanyingdrawings, in

which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a street railway carembodying the improvements of my invention; Fig. 2 is a top plan view ofa portion of the actuating mechanism for the lantern, the car body beingomitted; Fig. 3 is a similar view illustrating the operation of themechanism when the car is rounding a curve, the car body being indicatedby dotted lines; Fig 4 is a detail perspective view of a modified formor arrangement of parts for supporting the lantern holding bracket; andFig. 5 is a rear view of the bracket, the hooks of the lantern beingshown extending through the eyes orslots of the bracket.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followin descriptionand indicated in all the views 0 the drawings by the same referencecharacters.

Referring to thedrawings, the numeral 1 designatesv a portion of the carbody, 2 the truck thereof, 3 the vestibule or front platform and 4 thebuffer head.

5 designates a vertically disposed shifting rod designed to carry thehead light A to the right or left as the case may be, so as to shed itsrays always directly along the line of travel, a bracket 6 being securedto the upper end of the shifting rod 5, to directly support the headlight. The head light may be secured to the bracket 6 in any desired wayas' by hooks on the rear side of the head light entering loops or eyes 7on the brackets 6. The rod 5 is mounted to turn about a horizontal axisin any desired bearing in the buffer head 4, or in cases where the caris not equipped with a buffer head, it is obvious that the said rod maybe journaled in a bracket 8 formed to receive it, and bolted orotherwise secured to the front end of the car, asseen in Fig. 4.

Apreferably angular cross-bar 9 is pivotally connected intermediate ofits ends to the lower end of the shifting rod 5, the angularly disposedarm of said cross bar extending rearwardly and slightly downwardly, asclearly illustrated in the drawing, the said .cross bar being mounted toswing about a vertical axis.

Each arm of the cross-bar 9 is formed with a threaded socket designedfor working engagement with a screw threaded rod 10. These rods arepivotally connected at their outer ends to link rods 11, and these inturn are connected to one end of compensating springs 12. The rear endsof the springs 12 are connected to relatively small links 13 that arepivotally connected to the outer ends of transversely extending andinwardly projecting screw rods 14.

The screw rods 14 work in threaded sockets in arms 15 that are pivotallymounted at their inner ends on a suitable bracket 16 secured to theunder side of the car body 1, and

said arms 15 are pivotally connected to the l bility incident to myimproved construction truck 2 by means of the link rods 17, each of l ofhead light and shifting means therefor is said rods being constructed infront and rear sections adjustably connected together by turn-buckles asshown. It is to be particularly noted that each of the arms 15 is formedwith a transversely extending series of apertured ears 18 and that thelink rods 17 are designed for engagement with one of the respectiveseries of apertures, so as to vary the throw or movement of the arms15whenever desired, to increase or shorten, or quicken, or make moreslow the shifting movement of the head light to compensate for thevarying distances between the front ends of different cars and thetrucks to which the link rods 17 are connected. In addition to thisadjustment, it is obvious that further adjustment is possible by meansof the screw rods 14 in the arms 15, the screw rods 10 in the arms ofthe cross bar 9 and the turn-buckle connection between the front andrear sections of the link rods 17.

The operation of my improved shifting device for adjustable head lightsis obvious.

i similar vehicle, will, when the vehicle reaches a curve, fail to throwthe light around the curve as the car body always maintains a tangentialrelation to the line of travel of the trucks, but with an apparatusconstructed in accordance with the principles of my invention, it isclear that the )osition of the head lights is controlled entirely by theposition of the trucks and the head light will therefore be shiftedeither to the right or to the left so as to always shed its lightbetween the rails.

From the foregoing description in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, it will be seen that I have provided a very simple, durableand efficient construction of adj ustable head light and shifting meanstherefor, which is composed of comparatively few parts that may bereadily assembled on the car and in which the parts are so arranged thatthe device may be adjusted and rendered capable of use with cars ofvarying distances between the front end of the car body and the truck towhich the link rods for actuating the device are directly connected. Itwill 7 v also be observed that the feature of adjustaimportant in thatit renders the device caable of use on car bodies of all varyinglengths, because it is well known that with a short coupled car or shortcar body, the head light would not ordinarily travel with the trucks asfast as it would have to travel when attached to a long coupled carbody. The light will have to be adjusted and travel faster on the longcar body to throw the light upon the path or center of the track for thereason that the long car body covers more lineal surface of the trackthan the short car body and as my invention is arranged to be adjusted,as before described, it will be seen that it will meet the requirementsof car bodies of different lengths, as well as those in which thedistance varies from the truck to the head light.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with acar body and truck therefor, of a head light, a laterally shift ablesupport for the head light, swinging arms pivotally connected to theunder side of the car body, each of said arms being )rovided with aplurality of apertured ears, link rods connected to the truck andarranged for operative engagement in any one of the apertures of theears, the said arms being also rovided with threaded sockets extendingongitudinally thereof, and screw rods working in said. sockets andhaving an operative connection with the shiftable support.

2. An apparatus of the character described the combination with a bodyand truck of a car, of a head light, a shiftable sup )ort for said headlight, swinging arms pivoti lly connected to the under side of the carbody, and having longitudinally extending threaded sockets, screw rodsworking in said sockets and having an operative connection with theshiftable support, and a connection between said arms and the truck.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM H BROWN.

Witnesses:

JACOB R. DAVIES, J. R. WARNER.

